The first candidate seeking to replace longtime Dukes County Superior Court clerk of courts Joseph Sollitto Jr. has emerged.
Sollitto has decided to retire after 42 years working inside the courthouse in Edgartown.
“Most people know I’m retiring,” he told The Times. “I let the bar know last summer in case any of them wanted to run. I didn’t want to spring it on them.”
Sollitto has run seven times for the office, six of them unopposed. In 2006, he defeated Dan Larkosh with 63 percent of the vote, despite being a Republican on a heavily Democratic Island. “People vote the person,” he said.
Charles Morano, an Edgartown attorney, has filed papers to run in the Democratic primary Sept. 4, according to a press release.
Morano has held the position of assistant district attorney for the Cape and Islands, as well as special assistant district attorney for Martha’s Vineyard, according to his release. He was a supervising attorney for the committee for public counsel services for Dukes County for 25 years. He is currently in private practice.
Sollitto says he knows of at least two other Island attorneys who may consider a run.
- George Davis, an attorney with an office in Vineyard Haven, confirmed he intends to run in the Democratic primary. Davis has been an attorney on the Island since 2000, and has been practicing law since 1987.
Paul Holland, also a Democrat, has taken out nomination papers, according to a spokeswoman for Secretary of State William Galvin.
The deadline to submit the papers to town clerks for their certification is May 1. The deadline to file the papers and other required documents with Galvin’s office is May 29, she said.
Morano is the only candidate to have filed papers at this time, she wrote.
It is going to be sad to see the Honorable Mr. Solito go, he is very wise . Now, George Davis would make an excellent replacement. The man has the knowledge and temperament, possessed of none of the pompousness the others are legendary for displaying. George gets my vote
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